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Sunday, December 4, 2011

More Photos!

It's almost the end of the year - I can't believe I've been doing this 365 Project for a year. It sure has been fun :-) Here's the latest catchup:

337:365 Ready to Pop

I was walking by one of the plant stands today, and was surprised to see this columnea absolutely covered with buds. You can't force or disbud these like you dan African violets, so I let them bloom at will. A happy Christmas surprise :-)

336:365 My Exciting Friday Night

That's my yarn armoire, (the yarnoire ;-) ). In preparation for a year long challenge of using up more of my yarn, I had to do a complete inventory of all the yarn in the house.This is all the yarn in the sunroom - there is so much more all over the house :-D The top two shelves are fiber (not yarn), but those three big drawers? All yarn. This giant cleanup is giving me a great opportunity to get yarn organized and shifted around to where I can find it all :-D

335:365 It's the Holiday Season

The decorations on the sconces outside the United Airlines Building. The light portion gives a similar effect to The Bean. I walked up to be nearly underneath it to avoid appearing in the reflection.

334:365 Catalog-O-Rama

I must be on every mailing list in the country - and a couple in the UK, too :-D This is just one day's haul.

333:365 New Ornament

At Christmas time, I like to hang ornaments on the two hanging sconces on either side of the French doors in my sunroom. I've had out of town company over the holiday, so searching for house photos :-)

332:365 First Flurries

They are not the very first, but the first I've seen. They didn't stick. this is the empty gazebo in my back yard.

331:365 The Dining Room

I was in that play many year ago :-DBut this is my dining room - something festive, some art on the walls (Fairchild - one of my favorites), some wine, my mom's old sideboard. I like it in this room :-)

330:365 :-)

I love Christmas! The tree is up but not decorated. Yet :-)This was the only photo I took today! Been having a Harry Potter movie marathon :-D

329:365 Defiant II

You've seen him before in my photos, August 4th and 5th - but here he is decked out in his Christmas finery. The scaffold is away, but the ladder is still visible. It takes three guys, a scaffold and a ladder to wreath him.

328:365 Happy Thanksgiving

Here in the US., it's Thanksgiving Day. The traditional dinner is turkey with all the trimmings, but since I like to keep breathing, no turkey for me! This is my very first Beef Wellington, and it was really, really good, if I do say so myself :-DNext time - fewer mushrooms - it didn't need a whole pound, even pureed and cooked down it was too much. Also, next time will request a cut that is more the same size - this one was smaller at one end so didn't cook as evenly - and will brown the tenderloin a little bit more. It was medium rare everywhere except the very center.Not a particularly artistic photo, but I was really quite pleased with myself :-D

327:365 Ooooo, Shiny!

The first of - I'm sure - many photos of the Christkindle Market. It opened today. This market is one if not the largest Christkindle Market outside of Germany. I had lunch there today - I'm sure I will go again . . . and again . . . and again :-)

326:365 The Old and the New

The beautiful clock, and the garish decorations of the store formerly known as Marshall Field's. I (along with many Chicagoans) was so aggravated by the ruination of this magnificent retail institution, that I won't shop there, and I stubbornly refuse to utter the name of the new store.I should probably get over it . . . but I probably won't

325:365 Dressed in Holiday Style

The lights on the City's Christmas Tree. In the background is the County Building side of the City and County Building :-)

324:365 Beets!

It was a lot of work (and doesn't it look like I murdered something?) for one jar of refrigerator pickled beets. Next time, i'm slicing them by hand and skipping the mandoline.This was my first time making them - I adore pickled beets, and a friend of mine made them and shared not only the beets, but her recipe :-) I think I will pay her to make them for me in the future :-D

323:365 The Remains of the Day

One of only two photos I today . . . it was another day of constant errands - when you work, you have to get everything in on Saturdays. This was at the library in Park Forest - the last of the Black-Eyed Susans, I think, amidst the leaves.

322:365 Mini Murmuration

This photo was taken on November 9th. I'm sharing it here today because in the midst of my attempting to get everything accomplished six ways from Sunday, I fell asleep in the chair this night without having taken a photo all day . . .This group of pigeons was circling and circling and circling together. Swooping and dipping and circling across Randolph Street and Daley Plaza. I was on my way to work. The white building is the old Brunswick Building, and the gray one is the Chicago Temple Building. The birds were just amazing - I've never seen pigeons do that before.

321:365 As We Dream . . .

My house is nearly ready for Christmas, and I finally got these photos from my trip to Egypt hung. I lived with them leaning against the couch for a few months as I pondered where they should go.Over the fireplace. Why didn't I realize it sooner?

320:365 The Last Rose of Summer

Managed to set the camera on "small" instead of "large" yesterday - a hazard of tossing it in my bag, I guess - so I think this shot is a little different. Downtown - on my way to get some lunch.

319:365 Viburnum

This is my favorite Viburnum that lives in my front yard. It grows in the perfect snowball shape, never gets mildew and is stunningly beautiful at this time of year. Taken in the early morning light, on my way to the train.I have no idea which variety of viburnum it is - there seem to hundreds.

318:365 Bun-Bun and her Sister, Winky

I have no earthly idea why I gave these these names :-D They are just waking up from their off-season hibernation, along with the Polar Bear family that will soon be living underneath my Christmas tree.Years ago, I made these rabbits with the intent to sell them at craft fairs . . . ;-) I made a couple more that have since been gifted. Bun-Bun, is the red one - she was the prototype. Winky is the oatmeal one. They are not as large as they look in this photo. Bun-Bun's got her own little chair that she sits in every year, and Winky sits next to her on the floor.It wouldn't be Christmas without them :-)

317:365 Summer's Over

Every time I tried to relax in this hammock this summer, it rained. Seriously - I think I only got maybe two hours the whole summer long!